Isaiah 22:12-14 - The Lord called you to weep and wail

22:12,13

What was the Lord calling them to do? He was calling them to weep and wail, to repent of their sins. And the Lord did call on them to do this, repeatedly, sending prophet after prophet. Instead the people indulged in revelry, in partying. “Let us eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die”. I wonder how many people know where this phrase originates from! They were resigned to defeat, so they decided just to get drunk. They should have been turning to the Lord, then they could be healed, receive forgiveness and live. If we are on the brink of apparent disaster, we should turn to the Lord.

22:14

This attitude of not taking things seriously or just giving up receives a sharp rebuke from the Lord. “This sin will not be atoned for”. Jesus said that most troublesome statement when He said that any sin could be forgiven, except blaspheming the Holy Spirit, and no one really knows what it means. Perhaps we get a clue here. The Holy Spirit never tells us to give up, He may well (in fact He will) tell us to repent, but He never tells us that a situation is utterly hopeless.